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Today we continue our selection of quilts recently displayed at the Spring Paducah 2019 show featured as part of The 14th Quilt Nihon Exhibition. The exhibit is described as:

"Organized by the Japan Handicraft Instructors' Association, the Quilt Nihon Exhibition is one of the most prestigious international quilt contests in Japan. The exhibit features 42 quilts from the "Innovative Traditional" category, which will later be exhibited at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art."

Please enjoy the twenty-ninth quilt from the exhibition by Mineko Inoue.

Title of Quilt: Playing with Hearts

Quilter's Name: Mineko Inoue

Dimensions: 86" x 86"

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Quiltmaker, fabric designer, teacher, and speaker, Mary Elizabeth Kinch is co-author of two best-selling books, Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts and Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts. Every year she features 12 Quilts of Christmas. This year she has chosen to focus on Amish quilts. To see the quilts, click on Learn More. When you scroll down, be sure to click "older posts" to see the earlier quilts.

Watch Mary Elizabeth in Show 1502: Small Pieces, Big Impact .

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Whether you are buying a gift for someone, or if someone needs a last minute gift for you, click the "GIFT" button below. If you are joining or renewing, click the "JOIN or RENEW" button. Either way, Alex wants to wish you Happy Holidays and encourage you to quilt in 2020.

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Jean Wells' garden is full of sunflowers and so is this beautiful quilt, Sunflowers, created with New York Beauty blocks in a not quite "traditional" manner.

See Jean's stunning garden in Show 2513.

SunflowersbyJeanWells - 36 Pieces Non-Rotating

SunflowersbyJeanWells - 100 Pieces Non-Rotating

SunflowersbyJeanWells - 300 Pieces Non-Rotating

SunflowersbyJeanWells - 36 Pieces Rotating

SunflowersbyJeanWells - 100 Pieces Rotating

SunflowersbyJeanWells - 300 Pieces Rotating

Original Photo: Kristin Goedert

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Jean Wells' garden is full of sunflowers and so is this beautiful quilt, Sunflowers, created with New York Beauty blocks in a not quite "traditional" manner.

See Jean's stunning garden in Show 2513.

Original Photo: Kristin Goedert

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We are in love with these Lavender Llamas from The Crafty Quilter, Julie Cefalu. These soft, plush animals are filled with rice and dried lavender that you can microwave for warm comfort in the winter or freeze for instant relaxation in the summer. And they smell so good! They are the perfect size to fit on your chest, abdomen or across your head or neck...and they are just so darned cute.

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It's almost January 1st and the start of the TQS 2020 BOM Afternoon Delight. Barbara Black wants to help you get organized with some great tips about:

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This quilt required knowledge of perspective, geometry, color theory, and quilting, and Beth Nufer seems to have nailed them all in her stunning quilt, Cody's Cubes. Beth said it was fun "and challenging" to make. We'd have to agree.

Cody's Cubes was on display as part of the Pieced, Large exhibit at the Houston International Quilt Festival 2019.

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Satin puff baby quilt circa 1930. Gift of Mrs. Tom French,
TTU-H1969-069. Image courtesy of The Museum at Texas Tech University.

Satin Puff Quilts

by Marian Ann J. Montgomery, Ph.D.
Curator of Clothing and Textiles, Museum of Texas Tech University

Recently my husband came home telling me about a woman whose mother made lots of quilts and stuffed them with pantyhose. I can hear the hand and machine quilters in the group groaning now! After thinking about it for a while I remembered that there was a time during the early years of the quilt revival when puff quilts were popular and often stuffed with clean, used pantyhose. 

The fad for puff quilts has come and gone over the years. The Museum of Texas Tech University has a beautiful satin (learn about another beautiful satin quilt in the museum's collection) baby quilt made using this puff technique. The quilt features a beautifully hand quilted center bow surrounded by lovely pink and light green satin puffed squares.

The top square of a puff (block) is cut larger than the bottom square. The larger square is then pleated down to fit the bottom square. Each of the three top sides are then sewn to the bottom. Before the last side of the puff is sewn shut it is stuffed with a filler. Completed puffs are sewn one to another to make a row. Rows are then sewn together to build the required quilt size. Puff quilts are very thick, and a machine or hand sewn back is a great way to hide all of the assembly. Instructions abound on the Internet for those interested in making a puff quilt.

It appears that there was a plan for the arrangement of the green and pink blocks in this quilt. We don’t know who it was made for, or exactly when it was used but, it likely dates from the 1930s when satin quilts were very popular. 

Learn more about the Clothing and Textiles Collection at the Museum of Texas Tech University.

Click here for related articles from the Museum of Texas Tech University Textile Collections.